Riding-breeches.



G. J. LARKIN.

RIDING BREEGHES., I I APPLIOATIOK mum 001'. a, 1909.

967,023. Patented Aug! 9, 1910.

2 SHEETS-EEEET 1.

1n: Nonms PETERS co. wnsmuc'ron, n. c,

0. J. LARKIN.

RIDING BREEGHES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8,1909.

THE NOR'RIS PETERS co, WASHINGTON, n. c

Patented Aug.'9,1910.

2 8HIEETS-SBBET 2.

UNITED sip'rns PA FENT OEEIoE CLIFFORD J. LAE IN, 0E EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS.

RID ING-BREEGHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 9, 1910.

Application filed October 8, 1909. Serial No. 521,731.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD J. LARKIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Everett, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve will not be any fullness in the material at this point when the breeches are being worn in the saddle to cause wrinkles or puckers in the cloth, the presence of which are very apt to chafe and annoy the rider. The present practice is to obtain u an approximation of this desired shape by stretching the cloth comprising the rear section of the leg along the in-seam and at the same time shrinking the portion of the cloth that comes under the knee, this stretching and shrinking process being done before the pieces of cloth comprising the breeches are seamed together. This method of shaping the breeches leg is not only laborious, thus adding greatly to the expense of making the breeches, but it does not give the breeches a permanent shape which will be retained if they become wet or after they have been worn for a considerable length of time.

In making my present invention I have aimed to overcome the disadvantages inherent in the prior methods of cutting and making riding breeches and to provide a novel means of taking up this objectionable full ness under the knee without shrinking or stretching the goods, so that the breeches may be given a permanent shape that will not be lost after they have been worn for some time or even if they become wet. I

accomplish this object by cutting and seam ing up the rear section of the leg in such a way that the length of the leg is reduced on a line extending from the crotch divergently from the inseam and passing under the knee without reducing the length of the inseam. The preferred manner of securing this result is illustrated in the drawings and herein described, and the novel features of the invention are pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings wherein I have shown one embodiment of any invention, Figure 1 is a rearview of a pair of riding breeches made in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 shows the pattern by which the rear section of the leg is cut; Fig. 3 shows it after the dart which is formed therein has been sewed up; Fig. 4 showshow the materialof the breeches is taken up under the i knee without altering the length of the inseam. I

In cutting my improved breeches, the pieces constituting the front of the legs are cut. in the usual way, but those constituting 4 therear of the legs, or, as I will hereinafter term them, the rear leg sections, are cut in a novel manner so as to permit of securing the result aimed at. In the preferred embodiment of my invention I cut the rear leg sections according to the pattern shown in Fig. 2 which has the outside seam edge 5 of usual shape extending from the top to the bottom of the piece, the edge 6 extending from the top of the section to the point 7 3 which comes at the crotch of the breeches and which edge forms part of the rear seam 8 of the breeches, and the in-seam edge 4 extending from the point 7 to the point 15 near the lower end of the pattern. Said pattern is also out with a dart or V 3 which extends from a point adjacent the lower end of the in-seam edge 4: upwardly into the piece of goods toward approximately the center of the edge 5 to a point 10, and this dart is preferably cut of the special shape shown with the comparatively straight edge 11 on the side of the dart toward the lower edge 12 of the section and with the curved or hollowed edge 13 on the opposite side, said curved edge terminating at a point 14 situated a slight distance in from the cor ner 15.

The shape of the curved edge 13 of the dart is such that the length of said edge be tween the points 10 and 14: is approximately the same as the length of the straight edge 11. After the section has been out according to this shape, the dart is seamed up to form the seam 21, as shown in Figs. land 3, by bringing the edges 11 and 18 together so that the dotted lines 16 and 17 will coincide and then stitching the two parts along these two dotted lines. When this step has been accomplished, the piece has the appearance shown in Fig. 3 and the edge portion 18 of the dart comes in line with and forms practically a continuation of the lower edge 12. During this process of forming the dart and seaming it up, the total length of the inseam between the points 7 and 15 has not been decreased or increased but the length of the material along the dotted line a in Fig. 2 or the folded edge 30 in Figs. 1 and 4:, has been materially shortened; in fact in riding breeches of the ordinary size this method of forming the dart and seaming it up results in shortening the material between two and three inches along the dotted line a. This dotted line indicates the portion of the breeches which passes down portion which comes directly under the knee. By thus forming the dart and sewing it up as above described a shape is given to the underside of the breeches by which all fullness under the knee is eliminated so that when the breeches are worn, they will fit the leg closely at this point and no wrinkles or puckers will appear which are liable to chats and make discomfort for the rider. The important point of the invention is to secure this shortening of the material along approximately the dotted line a without shortening the length of the inseam, and I have described above the preferred manner of accomplishing this. By means of my improvement this desired shape is given to the breeches without changing the length of the in-seam edge't and without any stretching or shrinking of the goods. Consequently, the process of making my improved breeches is no more elaborate than the process of making any trousers, for it simply consists in cutting the pieces to the right shape and then seaming them up, and this may be done without even going through the preliminary step of basting. The shape which I produce is permanent and will not be aifected by moisture and it can be readily secured even though the breeches are made of a very inflexible materiahsnch, for instance, as khaki.

Riding breeches can be made in accordance with my invention at much less expense because all the laborious process of stretching and shrinking is done away with.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Riding breeches having the material of the rear leg section formed with a dart which extends from a point adjacent the lower end of the inseam toward the outside seam in an upwardly inclined direction so as to pass under the knee, and which is of such a shape as to reduce the length of the leg on a line extending from the crotch divergently from the inseam and passing under the knee without reducing the length of the inseam.

2. A rear leg section for riding breeches formed with a dart near the lower end of the in-seam, which dart extends upwardly into the section toward the outside edge seam and has one straight edge and a curved edge of substantially the same length as the straight edge but which terminates at a point inside of the inseam edge.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CLIFFORD J. LARKIN.

Vitnesses LOUIS C. SMITH, THOMAS J. DRUMMOND. 

